What will travel firms do to take advantage of ‘Skull Island’ opportunity?
While foreign travel firms are promoting Vietnam through the new film ‘Kong: Skull Island", domestic firms have yet to take action.
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‘Kong: Skull Island’ director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, who has been appointed Vietnam tourism ambassador, said the world still does not know how beautiful Vietnam is.
And now is the time for them to take tours to Vietnam to see the wonderful landscapes.
South China Morning Post reported that Exotic Voyages has introduced a new tour, which lasts 10 days, to travelers who want to visit locations in Vietnam appearing in Hollywood’s blockbuster film. The tour fee is $2.055 for the Hanoi – Ninh Binh – Ha Long – Quang Binh – HCMC itinerary.
Meanwhile, Starlight has launched a 6-day tour named "Kong: Skull Island Vietnam" for travelers who want to enjoy the landscapes which have not appeared in films before.
Cafebiz on March 11 said Saigontourist still had not taken any action to advertise the tours related to the Skull Island, let alone the action to organize tours to locations that appear in the film, such as Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh and Quang Binh provinces.
On Vietravel home page, there are ads for two outbound tours to Japan and South Korea.
Meanwhile, the local authorities of Quang Ninh, Ninh Binh and Quang Binh provinces, the locations appearing in Skull Island, apparently don’t intend to do anything to take advantage of the opportunity.
A Ninh Binh official explained that the film studio is now just an ‘empty land’ after the film crew left.
As for Quang Ninh, an official of the province’s tourist department said on VOV that turning the film studio into a tourism product was never mentioned during the year of working with the film crew from Hollywood.
Only the Quang Binh provincial authorities have taken prompt action to grab the opportunity to attract tourists. They successfully negotiated with the film crew on putting up a statue of three arms of Kong at Yen Phu Lake, Cha Noi Valley and Chuot Cave in Minh Hoa district.
In 2016, Quang Binh’s tourism suffered heavily from a sea environmental incident and floods, with the number of tourists decreasing.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien on March 3 presented the decision on appointing Kong director Jordan Vogt-Roberts as the tourism ambassador of Vietnam for the 2017-2020.
